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No bread is an island

...entire of itself. (With apologies to John Donne!)

I live and breathe breadmaking. I’m an evangelist who would like everyone to make his or her own bread. I want to demystify breadmaking and show it as the easy everyday craft that it is. To this end I endeavour to make my recipes as simple and as foolproof as I possibly can.

I call my blog 'No bread is an island' because every bread is connected to another bread. So a spicy fruit bun with a cross on top is a hot cross bun. This fruit dough will also make a fruit loaf - or Chelsea buns or a Swedish tea ring...

I'm also a vegan, so I have lots of vegan recipes on here - and I'm adding more all the time.

About Me

Torn away from the bosom of my family at the tender age of 18 - and never lived in my home town of Blackburn again. The RAF took me to HK; After a hitch of four years I emigrated to Australia and joined the RAAF, which took me to HK where I met my wife of 43 years. I then joined GCHQ which took me (us, with 2 children now) back to HK. Retired at 55, trained as a teacher of adults, gained a 2:1 in Teaching and Training at Plymouth Uni (which I thought went well with the 2 'O' levels with which I left school). And I've been teaching breadmaking ever since. Now running 6 or 7 classes a week, plus the odd Saturday workshop. My passion is breadmaking - or perhaps I should say the teaching of breadmaking; I'm also very interested in early development; And I like to cook - but I consider myself to be pretty average. I have a wife, two children, a daughter-in-law and a son-in-law and three grandchildren, (who can all make bread) who come and stay with us in the holidays and half-terms. Away from my family, I'm happiest teaching a Family Learning group, with parents and children, none of whom have made bread before. I get a real buzz out of turning people onto breadmaking.

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Saturday, 9 February 2013

For anyone following the 5:2 WOE (way of eating), veggies are your friends! Basically this recipe is 6-800g of low calorie veg (whatever’s in season, mainly), with added red kidney beans. I have half of this with a diced vegan sausage plus a small baked potato and maybe some broccoli. The other half is for my second fast of the week - generally on a Wednesday.

In a small pan I put 2cms of water (I try and use saved vegetable cooking water) and a teaspoon of chili powder. Then I add, in no particular order, the chopped veg. Here’s what I used recently for my 2 fasting days:

I measured this out onto two side plates (I use a side plate instead of a dinner plate these days) and it came to 7 large serving spoons – but I only used three yesterday, since that filled up the plate.So, 450 divided by 7 = 65 - multiplied by 3 = 195 calories for the veg

To this I added a Fry’s vegan sausage, chopped into small pieces – 58 cals I had this with 120g microwaved potato – 86 cals

So my meal came to 339 calories - and I had it with a small glass of red wine (50g - 44 cals)

So, altogether the calorie count was well under 400 calories.

I vary the amount of r-k-beans depending on how many calories I have to play with. This dish works perfectly well with 100g of beans.

You could leave out the beans and sausage and make a very acceptable veg curry – I would probably fry the curry powder in a teaspoon of oil (16 cals)

I’m always full after this meal – especially if I have some broccoli with it.

Ps. I often use up the spare calories by having 100g of homemade stout before the meal - only 43 calories

1. Place the yeast in a measuring jug, add lukewarm water up to 125ml and stir to dissolve.

2. Measure the dry ingredients and place them in a large mixing bowl with the yeast liquid and oil if using. Have a little water to hand to add if necessary, remember, it is better for your dough to be wetter (slack) rather than drier (tight). Begin to mix by stirring the ingredients together with a table knife. When it gets too stiff for the knife, use one hand to turn the bowl round, whilst the other hand begins to squeeze the mixture together. Make sure the dough stays soft - don’t be afraid to add more water. When all the flour has been mixed in, wipe the bowl around with the dough, turn it out onto the worktop and begin to knead.

3. Knead by stretching the dough out, folding it over, stretching it out and so on and so forth. Do this until it is smooth – but stop before you get fed up!

4. Table naan: Roll out the dough into a large square. Place it on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment, brush with water and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Leave to double in thickness.

5. Bake at 220C, 425F or gas mark 7 for 10-15 minutes. Check after 7-8 minutes. Turn it over if necessary to ensure the bottom is coloured enough.

Or:

4. Divide into 4 pieces and roll each piece out to about 10cm by 15cm (4" x 6"). Place on grill pan and leave to rise appreciably. Brush with oil or water and sprinkle with sesame seeds before grilling. Keep a close eye on them when grilling because they can swell up and begin to burn if you’re not careful. Turn over after 2 or 3 minutes, brushing them with oil once more. Go to step 5.

Notes:

I like the idea of a table naan with everyone tearing off a piece. With individual naans, I don’t bother with a teardrop shape – that comes from sticking the dough to the inside of a tandoori oven, which we don’t have.

Many recipes call for yoghurt, which I don’t use. If you wanted to use some, substitute, say, three tablespoons of yoghurt (possibly a bit more if the yoghurt's quite thick) for three of water.

Saturday, 2 February 2013

Last night we had some friends over for an Indian meal – from our favourite Indian takeaway, The Miriam in Taunton.I saw this as an excuse to make one of my favourite breads – a Peshwari naan.I made it with yeast, took one third, and rolled it out to fit my cast-iron frying pan which I placed on a low heat (I figured we’d be eating this one quicker). I divided the remaining piece into three, rolled them out fairly thinly, and put them to prove. I turned the oven onto 220C.After about ten minutes I turned the one in the frying pan over, increased the heat and cooked it for a further 4 minutes.When the oven was warm I put the naan breads in for a brief minute to get a burst of heat. After a further ten minutes, they’d risen enough to go in the oven.I gave them 6 minutes and turned them around on the baking tray so the outside of each naan was now facing inwards.After another 6-7 minutes they were ready and the guests began to arrive.They all agreed that the oven-baked ones were superior to the frying pan naan – which I put down to the fact that the oven-baked ones didn’t have to be turned over and were therefore lighter.If I hadn’t been using the oven I would have started them in the frying pan and finished them off under the grill.Here’s the recipe (which I increased by a half):Peshwari naanI use two different methods to make this – one of my most popular breads. I originally made it as a quick bread, using self-raising flour and done in a frying pan (baked in an oven it is not as moist). Now I often do it using a yeast risen dough, baked in the oven and also in a frying pan – both are good. Any dried fruit will do, but dried apricots - the unsulphured ones - make it special.Quick bread recipeIngredients:200g self-raising flour (or you can use plain flour with 2 tsps of baking powder mixed in – self raising flour’s just easier)1/4 tsp salt1 or 2 tsps curry powder1 dsp sugar50g grated creamed coconut 100g dried apricots, chopped smallMedium onion, finely chopped125ml waterOlive oil Method:The secret of any quick bread is to have everything ready beforehand. So oil a large frying pan and put it on medium heat. Mix dried ingredients and measure liquids. When everything is ready, add the water and oil and stir it quickly into a dough. Be ready to add more water or flour if needed. Take it out, shape it into a flattened ball and, after flouring your worktop, roll out into a circle the size of your frying pan. Place it in the frying pan.They should take about 4-5 minutes each side to bake. When the first one is ready, slide it onto a cooling rack, re-oil the frying pan and carefully place the second naan into it.Yeast bread recipeIngredients:200g strong white flour1/4 tsp salt 1 or 2 tsps curry powder1 dsp sugar50g creamed coconut (grated)100g dried apricots, chopped smallMedium onion, finely chopped1 dsp fresh yeast125ml lukewarm waterSplash of olive oilMethod:Place dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Pour the lukewarm water over the yeast and stir to dissolve. Add the olive oil. Mix into a dough, adding more water if needed. Knead for about a minute or so to distribute the ingredients properly.Using the frying pan, follow the instructions as above.Oven baked, roll out to a size that will fit your baking sheet, place on the lined baking sheet and leave until the dough becomes puffy.Bake at 200c/425F or gas 7 for approximately 12 minutes. Check for some colour underneath to see if it is cooked properly.Note:I make a version of this, 'Spicy fruit naan', (incl. pic) which I have daily for breakfast, spread with mashed banana.